My previous oven survived 2 years before it really needed a revamp. The clay is London clay and has baked to a red brick colour. It's very crumbly and when I add water seems to go back to a sticky though lumpy clay. Can I reuse this or is it best to dig a new load?

It is possible that the surface of the clay that was closest to the fire, particularly at the top of the dome may have got hot enough for some of it to be sintered ie having reached 573C in which case it will be difficult to return it to a powdered state. You'll need to do a lot of pounding.It may be less work to start again

Thanks David, I'm fairly sure I got to the 700'C+ range as I could cook a pizza in about 30 seconds. The entirety of the dome colour/material was consistent, so I've definitely got the thermal mass up to temperature! I was wondering if I could reuse this material somewhere rather than putting it back in the ground!

Yes you could, but like I said, if it has been sintered it won't return to mud, it has been made permanent and will require crushing. You could try wetting the stuff down and sieve and discard the sintered bits instead of crushing them.

No part of this website or content thereof may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, nor may any part of this website be stored in a database or other electronic retrieval system, or any other website, without the prior written permission of Forno Bravo.